


Looking For Guidance 2

by UnorthodoxSavvy



Series: Looking For Guidance [2]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:42:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8326582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnorthodoxSavvy/pseuds/UnorthodoxSavvy
Summary: If You Were a Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack





	1. 1. The Mighty Fall of Mona Lisa

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, it's Savvy. This is the second part of Looking For Guidance, and the titles are the titles of the mixtape that is mentioned in the first one but does not exist in that story. The song titles are all mixes of different bands. Some of them might be really awesome mash-ups, like I know for a fact the title of my first chapter in this is. Anyway, if you care to, look any of these up and see if they are real mashups. Who knows, you might find the next Radioactive In The Dark that some lonely person on YouTube posted. Probably not, but maybe you could make your own then. 
> 
> With that said, I hope you enjoy this story. 
> 
> -Savvy

Six boys on an otherwise empty field. Two goalies, four players. The teams are as even as can be. One one side, Charlie, master of all, jack of none at sports; Clyde, booksmart and unbelievably uncoordinated running towards the ball, but extremely skilled at running away; and Corey, a surprisingly good goalie. On the other side, Willie, the opposing goalie who holds that position because he is not afraid to play dirty, and anywhere else that can be...catastrophic…; Kevin, geek galore, and only slightly more coordinated than Charlie; and finally Frank, small, emo, and fast.

6:00 pm draws nearer, and the sun starts to set. When the church bells from town can be heard chiming, the game ends 11-0. The teams were as even as can be in numbers, but not skill. The six boys walk off the field, slinging arms around each other’s shoulders as they collide together, until by the time they reach the bleachers on the sidelines, they are all together, tired and panting.

This is where the story begins.

Charlie grabbed the water bottles on either side of his, Willie and Corey’s, and passed them to their owners. 

“Frank, I swear you’re getting quicker and quicker as the years go by,” Charlie congratulated his best friend. Frank turned to him, sweat dripping off his black bangs.

“Thanks, big guy,” Frank smiled, giving him a light punch in the arm.

It had been four weeks since they had had a fall-out over an awkward situation involving more than one teacher-student relationship, but they had made up within days. 

“I’m surprised that Willie didn’t pull any of his tricks,” Corey said in his slight British accent, but he and Willie shared a smile, because if Willie needed help on a prank, his first choice as a partner in crime would always be Corey. Clyde often had the mathematics to set up whatever physics were needed in Willie’s pranks, however. 

“I didn’t see any opportunities worth taking,” Willie explained. When all the boys had had their fill of rest and water, they started making their way towards the top of the slope that came between them and the parking lot. Charlie had driven to school today, and though it was a tight fit, he could fit all of his friends in his muscle car.

The boys helped out each other with whatever they could provide, and in this case, it was pre-pre-season practice for Charlie to get a feel for soccer, since he hadn’t played since last season. They had started the ritual in sixth grade, and it was something that really helped them bond.

When the reached the top of the hill, they spotted a man with bright red hair and an eccentric sense of style making his way to his car. 

Frank’s friends instinctively looked at him. There was a tense moment where each boy waited for the other to say something, until Corey decided to speak up. 

“Have you-” 

“No.” Frank said firmly. 

“What exactly did he say again?” 

“ ‘We’ll see’. What is that even supposed to mean?”

“Maybe you should just try talking to him,” Clyde interjected.

“I don’t need him,” Frank said, furiously wiping away the warm tears that had sprung up unwelcome in his eyes. He didn’t need to shed anymore tears, at least, not over another human being. Embarrassed, Frank made his way purposefully down the slope. 

The man in the car drove by, glancing at the teens as he made his way past. He made eye contact with Frank in particular, and it was not a good moment.

*-*-*-*-*

There was a knock on Mr Way’s door first thing Wednesday morning. It shocked him because no one had knocked on his door this early in four weeks. Not since...Mr Way pushed the thought he had started to have out of his mind. He wasn’t coming back.

When he opened the door, there were three boys at it. Mr Way groaned. Things were about to get very complicated.

“What do you three want?” he asked Corey, Willie, and Clyde.

“What do you think?” Willie snapped, a bit out of character for him, and shoved his way past the staff member into his cozy office, plopping himself down on the arm chair while Corey and Clyde took the couch.

“Where’s the rest of the Outsiders?” Mr Way asked once he had resumed his position behind his desk and tucked a piece of bright red hair behind his ear.

Corey smirked at the use of the term “the Outsiders”, thankful someone had finally elected to not call them “the Breakfast Club”, and used his prefered group name instead, but that didn’t stop him from putting a whole lot of sass into his answer. “Frank would get suspicious if he saw we were all missing. This way, he thinks Willie and me are up to something and he won’t know Clyde’s not in prodigy camp.”

Mr Way, who would have normally matched the sass that Corey had, wasn’t in the mood to be sassy lately. “Frank doesn’t know you’re here?”

“Didn’t he just say that?” Willie asked, and Clyde shot him a look, fearing how disrespectful his friends were being might lead them to getting in trouble.

“No,” Clyde said, taking over, hoping to be more diplomatic. “We want to talk to you about him, Frank, and what you said to him last time you spoke, and what has happened in the past few weeks.”

“I told him we’d see about it, but-”

“But what, you left him on a cliff-hanger!” Corey said, and Clyde quickly whispered for him to shut up. “I’ll handle this!” Clyde assured him, and turned back to Mr Way.

“Because this is dangerous! And not only that, but it’s immoral, and wrong!”

“That was redundant, kind of,” Clyde said, and he got a withering look from Mr Way, some of his sass returning for the moment. However, that moment was fleeting, and he looked dejected again.

Over the past few minutes, Willie had slowly changed from being angry at Mr Way for leaving his close friend high and dry, not knowing where to turn next, to pitting the man and realizing that he didn’t know where to go next. Their mission was complete: they had gotten rid of the teacher that raped Frank. They were just supposed to be somewhat loose friends after that, Frank occasionally visiting him in his office when he had a free chance and a whim for some different company, and greeting each other in passing like any other student Mr Way had met would. However, that wasn’t the case. Willie knew that Mr Way had opened up to Frank, as well as vice versa. Armed with that knowledge, Willie got up from where he had crashed on the arm chair, and walked two steps over to Mr Way’s desk, which was just a table really, and placed both hands on it, demanding attention.

“Mr Way, Frank is losing someone he could open up to, and talk to, and you are too. Frank needs to talk to someone about this. He’s been avoiding talking to us about it, and there certainly isn’t anyone else he’ll talk to about it. We thought that maybe it would pass in a few weeks, but we had our doubts, and it seems like we were right. Plus, there’s still so much you don’t know about Frank. So please, we’re asking you, if you don’t want to do this, let him down easy, and if you do, tell him, but right now you’re just stringing him along, and he can’t move on. As a guidance counselor, you should probably know that’s wrong. But I get it’s harder when it’s you in that place.” 

When Willie was done, he removed his hands, standing up straight, and moved towards the door, his friends standing and following him out, sending childish glances back at Mr Way.


	2. 2. If You Can't Stay, Hold On Till May

Nothing happened in the next week except for it becoming one week closer to Frank’s birthday, and they gained a new student in their class.

For a small, crappy school, they sure did gain a lot of kids, but there was something that struck Frank about this kid. Peter Andy-Joe Stump was his name, Pete for short, and Frank liked him the moment he saw him. The more the week went on, the more Frank liked him.

On Pete’s first day, Tuesday, he had a light blue and white plaid short sleeve with pastel green shorts, and he even had a flower crown. The second day he was in school, he had a baseball cap with the word “Bingo” on it, a large red pullover, and baggy jeans and purple and white shoes with velcro straps instead of laces. On his third day, Thursday, he wore a black tank top with camo cargo pants and black work boots with steel toes. On his last day of his first week, Friday, he dressed in a black band shirt, jeans, and beat up converse, looking more average than he had all week, and Frank couldn’t keep his eyes off him.

It was during his time learning science for the day that Lindsey propped her elbow on her desk and leaned over it to talk to Frank quitely, which he leaned over to her to talk back, and Jamia leaned closer too.

“You’ve been staring at Pete all class, why don’t you say something to him? It’s not unheard of to introduce to yourself and try and be friends with the kid.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Jamia’s eyes lit up, and she grinned. “Isn’t your birthday coming up?”

Frank turned to face her. “Yeah.”

“You should totally invite him to spend it with you after you guys get talking more!”

“I don’t know, I mean, the guys and I usually do something together…”

“Well, invite him along with the Breakfast Club, but ask him if he wants to stay the night or whatever!”

Frank sighed. 

“What’s the matter, Frank?” Lindsey asked.

“It’s just… I’ve been kind of waiting for someone…” 

“How long have you been waiting?” Jamia asked.

“Like five weeks now… and a few days, but who’s counting?” he laughed sadly.

“Frank, you should probably try and move on, and that kid is a great opportunity to. He’s sure as hell gay, and he seems really nice. I think you should try and go for it,” Lindsey advised.

Frank nodded. “Okay, I will.”

At that moment, from the front of the room, their teacher of five weeks (and a few days, but who was counting?) called “Frank, Jamia, Lindsey, can we pay attention up here, please?”

A few kids turned around and looked at them, Pete included. Frank’s eyes met his, and Frank gave a smile, which Pete returned. Within a few seconds, the kids had turned back around, but when their teacher wasn’t looking, Pete turned back around to find Frank still looking at him. Their eyes met and there were more smiles, but this time they could almost be called flirtatious.

*-*-*-*-*

After class, Frank hurried in packing his things away to go talk to Pete, but Pete was waiting for him.

“Hello mystery man. Do you have a name?” Pete asked, taking Frank’s hand, which surprised Frank very much.

“F-Frank.”

“Frank? Cute name.”

Frank’s mind quickly shot back to his last teacher. She had thought his name was cute too. But maybe she had just said that to try and seduce him. Frank gave an involuntary shiver, which Pete picked up.

“Did I do something?”

“No,” Frank assured him. To reinforce his point, he squeezed Pete’s hand.

“Can we walk to the busses together?” Pete asked him.

“Of course,” Frank said.

They traveled the rest of the way with idle chatter about bands.

“I like your shirt,” Frank said gesturing to Pete’s AC/DC shirt.

“Thanks. There aren’t many older bands I like, but this one is good.”

“Cool. Do you like punk rock?”

“Yeah, totally. What’s your favorite band?”

“Panic! at the Fall Out Disco.”

“Cool. I like A May Day to Remember.”

“Oh yeah, I listen to them too.”

“Cool, we’ll have to compare bands sometime, but this is my bus.”

“Oh, okay. Well, bye, Pete!”

“Bye, Frank! See you Monday!”

“Yeah!” Frank called after him, feeling his face flush red.

Frank climbed on the bus and sat next to Charlie as he did every day.

“What was that about?” Charlie asked.

Frank looked up at him. “I’m moving on,” he said definitively. 


	3. 3. A Love Like Last Hope

When Frank and Charlie got to Frank’s house and couldn’t find his mom, they knew she must be in the basement with her co workers. Frank’s mom was a secret agent for the government, and in their basement was a literal secret room. As if that wasn’t cliche enough, it was hidden behind a bookshelf, and to get in, you had to pull the right book back like you were going to take it out and read it. None of Frank’s friends were allowed to know about it, and as such, Frank and his friends weren’t allowed downstairs when his mom was down there with work things. 

Frank moved into the kitchen with Charlie behind him, and they dumped their backpacks on one side of the counter and moved around the other side to get into the area of the kitchen that was used to prepare food.

From the cabinets, Frank grabbed an unopened bag of Doritos and a blue plastic bowl, opening the chips and pouring half the bag in, getting a small clip from the drawer in front of him to seal the top of the bag he had rolled up. While Frank was doing this, Charlie grabbed six cups from the same set in all different colors, and filled a red, black, blue, and green one with red Hawaiian punch, the yellow cup with half and half iced tea and lemonade, and the last one, which was orange, with pink lemonade. 

Frank placed the bowl in the middle of the table, and carried three of the cups, all filled with the red juice and placed them with the chips. After this was completed, Charlie and Frank proceeded to set up all the spare chairs. When they finished, they sat on the couch to watch TV, only, Charlie grabbed the remote, and facing Frank, put it behind him.

“We need to talk about what happened.”

“Why do we need to talk about it at all?”

Charlie rolled his eyes, which frustrated Frank even more. 

“I want you to know what you’re doing, Frank.”

“I do!”

“Face it, Frank, you still have feelings for Mr Way.”

“Yeah, I do, but if he can’t make up his mind, then I’m going to move on without him.”

“Frank, you can’t drag Pete into anything, okay?” 

“I won’t,” Frank said, and leaned over to grab the TV remote, leaning over Charlie and reaching over the other side of him.

Half an hour later, Frank and Charlie’s other friends started trickling in. Willie was the first one to come in, and he went straight to the table, pulling out a chair and grabbing a handful of doritos, the flavoring staining his lips like the Hawaiian punch he took a sip of after he finished chewing. By this time, Frank and Charlie had pulled out two chairs and sat in them, taking sips of their own Hawaiian punch. 

After twenty minutes of chatter about worms and hamsters, everyone had pulled up chairs at the table, and were sipping their drinks, Clyde with his half and half and Corey with his lemonade. Eventually, Frank pulled out the deck of cards he had in the kitchen drawer and the set around playing some of their favorite classic card games. Frank’s mom came upstairs and asked who was sleeping over, and all of the boys looked at each other and shrugged, agreeing one by one starting with Charlie. 

*-*-*-*-*

Sunday afternoon Frank was raking his front lawn when out of the shadows of the yard across the street Jeremy appeared. 

Jeremy looked up into the sky, squinting and recoiling from the harsh sunlight, and went back into the shadowy forest from whence he came.

Frank simply raked the leaves into a pile while watching all of this happen.

*-*-*-*-*

When Frank jumped down the bus steps and entered the building, he saw a preppy-looking Pete waiting for him, leaning up against the doorway of the cafeteria which was directly to Frank’s right. 

“I thought I’d walk you to class?” he asked, and in response Frank held out his hand.

“Listen, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and I was wondering if you’d like to join my friend’s and I in celebrating.”

“Me? Join the elite Breakfast Club? Well, I’m simply flattered. In fact, I don’t think I could turn down such an offer. And how would a night like that be spent?”

“I was thinking Trick-or-Treating?”

“Halloween Baby? Well, I think that’s splendid. I don’t think you could ever get too old for Halloween, just at some point you have to make the transitions from going out and collecting candy, giving out candy, taking your child out to get candy, and once again giving out candy. Will there be a costume theme?”

The two boys had reached their classroom. “Probably not,” Frank said, making his way in and dropping hands so that he and Pete can weave separately to their respective desks. 

“Well, then I’ll try my best to put something smashing together,” Pete told Frank, turning around in his seat.

“Great. Would you, uh, also be interesting in sleeping over?”

“Oh, with everyone else you mean?” Pete called back to him.

“No, not exactly,” Frank said, thankful the room was extremely noisy. 

“Is that a date, then, Frank?” Pete asked him.

“Sure,” Frank replied as he spotted Corey and Willie coming through the door, quickly followed by Kevin. The three of them grabbed their seats, Corey slouching in the front row, Willie turning to talk to the person next to him, arm draped over and of the side of the desk, and Kevin pulling out his Gameboy to play by himself while he waited for class to start. Frank pulled out his earbuds and put them in, playing one of his favorite songs to which he jammed out, finally feeling like he was on track to start letting go of Mr Way.


	4. 4. Can You Feel My Agony

Halloween came around and Pete had a very interesting costume to say the least. He had tried to copy a look from a popular app and had rainbow paint running down his chin and onto his white shirt. Since it was a chilly time of year, he had on a sweatshirt made in the likeness of Yoshi from Mario Brothers. Other than that, his outfit was as normal as it was on Fridays, with jeans and Converse sneakers. He had explained to Frank that he believed in casual Fridays. 

Frank was Freddy Krueger, and he had done all the make-up himself, starting a few hours early, and they were all meeting at Frank’s house since it was his birthday. Charlie was being a hockey player, using his own gear, Willie was being a clown, Corey one of the Frog Brothers, Kevin was Link, and Clyde had a very homemade looking astronaut suit that pieces continually fell off of.

Pete was the first one there, and he greeted Frank cheerily with a small peck on the lips. The rest of Frank’s friends slowly trickled in and all wished him a happy birthday, and they gathered up their stuff and started to head out.

“How far are we heading out this year, Frank?” Charlie asked. They normally went far enough to hit all of their houses, but Charlie liked to try and push them further.

“How about, like, ten blocks?” Frank asked. 

“Sure!” Charlie exclaimed. The farthest they had gone was eight blocks for the past two years.

Frank turned around to ask how everyone else felt about it, and Pete paused in his conversation with Corey to call back that that was fine and everyone else followed suit.

Their bags became quite heavy after six blocks, but they still collected candy from people because people rewarded their efforts of walking so far.

Finally, they only had one house on the last block. It was almost midnight, but it was the last house on the street that still had a light on. 

“Last house, fellas!” Frank called, saying “fellas” on a whim. It sounded more like something Pete would say. Maybe Pete was rubbing off on Frank, he thought.

Frank got the birthday honor of knocking on the last door, and the last person he ever wanted or expected to open the door did.

“Frank!” Mr Way exclaimed.

“Uh, Mr Way….” Frank searched for something to say. “Are you still handing out candy?”

Pete moved up laughing at something Corey said to be next to Frank, and took his hand, looking up at the man in the doorway. Of course, Pete didn’t know who Mr Way was, but Mr Way took one look at Frank’s hand in Pete’s and his features hardened. 

“Yeah, but you should probably head home soon. Kid’s like you shouldn’t be out too late,” Mr Way said stonily, composing himself rather well into an emotionless being, purposefully using the word “kids” to highlight the problem of what was their relationship. 

“You’re the last house we’re hitting tonight, right?” Pete asked, looking between Frank and Mr Way, not showing that he noticed the silent acrimony between the two.

“Yeah,” Frank answered, his eyes not leaving Mr Way’s green-brown ones.

“ ‘Mr Way’?” Pete asked, trying to continue the conversation that had dropped because neither Mr Way nor Frank refused to stay. “Do you work at the school?”

“Yes. I’m the school guidance counselor,” Mr Way said, and Frank recognized he could have said a lot more, but didn’t. Either he was still following the rules of his job, and not disclosing anything about his meetings with Frank, or he was genuinely trying to be somewhat of a responsible adult.

Frank’s friends moved around him to see what was the hold up, and when they all saw Mr Way, their faces turned to grimaces. Mr Way could feel the bitterness radiating from each of the boys besides Pete, who still acted like he didn’t notice anything. Mr Way took his cue, and went to grab them a basket full of king-sized candy bars.

“Take what’s left. I’m going to stop after you guys.”

Frank was the one closest, so he grabbed two chocolate bars first and turned around, walking off the porch of his one-time friend. 

When everyone had grabbed something, they turned around to leave, however, Mr Way called one of the boys back-and it wasn’t Frank.

Charlie turned around at the sound of his name, and, glancing uneasily at his friends, he made his way back to the lonely lit house.

He talked to Mr Way, and from what the other boys could see, Charlie was angry, gesturing with his hockey stick back at his friends and at Mr Way.

Frank was beginning to become worried about the situation, and he dropped Pete’s hand, who had taken his when he noticed Frank’s feelings, and started to make his way back to the porch. 

Mr Way saw him approaching and Charlie noticed, so he finished the conversation and moved to intercept Frank before he could make it to the first porch step.

“C’mon, let’s go home, Frankie,” he said, slinging an arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder.

“What did he want?” Frank asked, gazing up at Charlie’s masked face.

Charlie glanced back down at him , their eyes meeting through makeup and mask, and he replied “I think you know.”

Frank continued to let Charlie lead him, but when he glanced back over Charlie’s arm at Mr Way, he saw him standing in his doorway, leaned against the side with his head in one hand and his arm bracing him against the other side, shoulders shaking. 

Frank looked back up at Charlie.

“He’s crying,” Frank told him.

“I’m not surprised, and I think he deserves it,” Charlie stated, eyes fixed ahead.


	5. 5. Have Faith in Me, This Time I Mean It

The seven boys made their way back to Frank’s house to do a candy swap. Frank didn’t join in on any of the conversation, simply took his candy piece by piece and sorted it into a keep pile and a trade pile.

Pete kept sending nervous glances at Frank, and at one point he got up and pulled Corey away with him. Frank knew that Pete was asking about what had happened.

When they returned from the bottom of the stairs where they had moved to, both Pete and Corey came over to sit by Frank.

“Listen, Corey told me everything,” Pete said.

“Oh,” was all Frank said.

“Listen,” Pete said again, “I know that this is hard. I’ve been through stuff like this too, and I have been in this position too, actually. In fact, I’m in the same position right now. I think you and I are both looking to move on. Only, Frank, I’ve been doing some thinking, not just today, but over the past few days, and...I want to give this guy another try. And I think you should give Mr Way another try, too. Is that okay?”

Frank nodded. “I’m okay with you trying to give your guy another try, but I don’t know about Mr Way.”

Pete nodded, and decided not to push the matter. “We can still be friends, though, if you’d like.”

Frank nodded again. “Yeah, that’d be fine.”

Pete smiled, and hugged Frank, and patted Corey on the shoulder.

“We’ll see what happens,” Pete said, moving away, and Frank was painfully reminded of what Mr Way had said to him the last time he had been in his office.

When all the candy was traded, everyone went home, Pete included, and Frank went to sleep as best as he could.

*-*-*-*-*

Monday morning, Frank got called to the guidance office almost as soon as he sat down. All of his friends, including Pete, looked back at him with some form of expression, although Pete’s was the only positive one. On the trek down to Mr Way’s room, Frank passed Clyde in the hallway, and, in an effort to make himself feel better, he said “Clyde! I thought you never left that old stuffy classroom of yours!”

Clyde grinned at him and gave him a light punch.

“Where are you going, anyway?”

“Bathroom. You?”

“Mr Way called me down.”

Clyde lost the cheerful smile he had picked up from running into one of his best friends in the hall, and turned serious.

“Do you need me to come with?”

“Mmmmm, no, I think I’ll be okay,” Frank’s eyes didn’t Clyde’s when he said this though, instead they just scanned where the floor met the walls on either side of him.

Clyde tilted his head at Frank, and finally said “Alright, well, text if you need me,” after some thought.

Frank thanked him and made the rest of his journey to Mr Way’s room, wondering what the outcome of this meeting would be. 

*-*-*-*-*

Frank knocked lightly on the door, his stomach filling with the feeling of apprehension. Mr Way opened the door with tired, red, and puffy eyes, like he had been crying recently. When he called Frank inside, Frank could tell that he was nursing a serious hangover. The main lights in the room were off, leaving just the Christmas lights. This meant his room was, for once, dimmer than the little alcove that house it. This made Frank sad, for in the past he had seen this as a bright and cheery haven, though, the Christmas lights in the dark looked very epic to Frank.

Frank didn’t bother to take a seat, but instead stood in front of the chalk board. He waited while the silence ensued, but nothing was spoken by either of them, until Frank judged that he had been there for about five minutes, which he confirmed when he checked the clock above the door, he finally spoke up, because the anxiety he was feeling threatened to engulf him.

“Mr Way, what is this about?”

“Who is he?” Mr Way asked.

“Just a friend,” Frank called Pete.

Mr Way took a moment to digest what specific words Frank had answered with, trying to dissect them and figure out the secret meaning behind them.

“You sure move on fast,” he said finally, when he had a tentative opinion.

“First of all, you are the one who left me hanging, so yeah, I wanted to move on and forget about you like you forgot about me. Second of all, we aren’t dating, and that was confirmed the other night, you know, the birthday I had  _ wanted _ to spend with you, before you left me hanging. Third of all, seeing as you did leave me hanging, you have no right to say anything about it. So listen, I’m telling you here, now: make up your mind. If you don’t, I’m moving on. I already tried, but Pete said I should give you another try.”

Mr Way traced a circle on his desk with one of his delicate artist fingers.

“And what did you say to him?” Mr Way asked.

“I said I didn’t know.”

Mr Way got up and moved to Frank, taking his hands in his. 

“I think, if you’re okay with it, Frank, I want to try again. Everything in my head was telling me this was wrong, immoral, and sinful...but, I can’t stop thinking of you Frank. I still feel like there are so many ways I can help you grow, and you can help me...and you’re gorgeous, Frank, I can’t get you out of my mind. I want you to be mine.” His demeanor became much more intense, and he took one of his hands out of Frank’s grasp and ran it through Frank’s hair. “I want you to be all mine, Frank, I don’t want to share you, and I don’t want anyone looking at you like I do.” Mr Way took his other hand out of Frank’s grasp and used it to push Frank up against the chalk board, until he saw the beginning of fear in Frank’s eyes as Frank thought about the time he got raped in another room in this building.

Mr Way immediately let off Frank and Frank made his way to the couch, his knees feeling weak. 

Mr Way crashed back into his chair, shaking a little himself, panic taking hold of him. 

“Frank, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just got carried away,” he breathed out quickly. Taking a few deep breaths himself (Frank was taking many) he said slower: “You can go back to class, now, but just...think about what I said, okay? I’m asking for a second chance, if you’ll give me one.”

Frank nodded, jumping off the couch and rushing out the door back to his regularly scheduled class.

*-*-*-*-*

Frank returned without being summoned the next day. He supposed the answer was obvious.

“Yes,” he told Mr Way, when he was sitting on the tan couch in the small room.

“Great!” Mr Way cheered, launching from his chair in excitement, only to wonder why he was standing. Frank answered by coming over to hug Mr Way, and he felt more comfortable instantly. Mr Way pecked him on the lips and Frank laughed.

“Come on, you can do better than that,” Frank said.

“Don’t push me,” Mr Way mumbled, but continued to press lighting kisses against Frank’s lips while he walked him back to the couch, pulling Frank on with him, and their kisses deepened, but were still light-hearted.

Finally Mr Way pulled back. “You should get back to class.”

Frank groaned and fell into Mr Way’s lap, where he got his back rubbed by the older man. Those artistic fingers felt like heaven against Frank’s shirt. Frank really wanted those fingers under his clothes someday-like today even. 

“Not to be forward, Frank, but if you’d like, you can come over after school. I’ve been wanting to show you my house.”

“Sounds great! Can I stay after, or do I have to walk?”

“You want me to  _ drive  _ you like I’m some sort of chufere? Do you think I’m your  _ boyfriend _ or something?” he asked, pretending to be exasperated.

“Yeah, maybe I do!” Frank giggled. He saw Mr Way’s eyes glaze over and him sigh at Frank’s giggle. 

“Goddamn…” he said, entranced.

“Mr Way, I don’t think you can use that kind of language in school.”

“Fuck you, Iero.”

“Yes, you should.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“And if I do?” Frank asked, smiling.

“Then you’ll get what’s coming to you,” Mr Way said, but he sounded a lot more serious than Frank had expected him to be.

“Oh. Is it like that, then?” He asked, batting his eyelashes.

“Darn right it is, Mr Iero, so kindly know your place,” Mr Way growled.

Frank smiled, and thrust his hand up Mr Way’s shirt, catching the older man off guard.

“My place. After school. Take the bus and walk. Now go back to class.”

Frank took these all as direct commands, and worked on carrying them out, starting with heading back to class.


	6. 6. When I Come Around (First Date)

When Frank got on the bus, he put his earbuds in and jammed out to Blink-Day, but Frank’s super good mood didn’t pass by Charlie.

“So, did you make up?”

“Yeah,” Frank hummed happily.

“Cool. So now what?”

“I’m walking to his place after school.”

“Oh. To?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, okay. Well, um, be safe, and, um, use protection or something.”

“That’s rich, Charlie, coming from you.”

“Hey, I use protection!”

“Yeah, what, like twice, right?”

“Three times, actually, thank you very much.”

Frank rolled his eyes, and that ended their subject matter. The rest of Frank’s bus ride was filled with just the usual chatter.

When Frank climbed off the bus, his sneakers thudded against his cement walkway and up to his front door. He turned the handle and opened the wooden and glass door with the pretty design, which welcomed him into his foyer. He looked over at the rug in the living room to his right where they had all sat on Halloween trading candy, and made his way straight forward into the kitchen to get some food.

He put down his backpack and grabbed some left-over chips, and with his mouth full, called for his mom, but she didn’t answer. Figuring that she was downstairs in their secret room, he left a note for her saying he was heading over Willie’s house, and he went upstairs to drop his backpack off and then started the ten block walk to Mr Way’s house. 

The walk was going to take him a long time, but it wasn’t as bad as he remembered. Maybe because it was less late, and he wasn’t stopping at houses on the way.

He had his music in as he walked, too.

He ended up passing Willie’s house, ironically enough, as he knew he would. He looked up and saw Willie’s little cousin in the window. He waved to her and she gave him a toothy grin and waved back. Willie must have been babysitting for her. He was good at that sort of thing, believe it or not. A lot of people just saw Willie as a prankster, and no one ever thought he was going anywhere in life, but when you got to know him, you realized how smart he was. 

When he finally made it to Mr Way’s house, he spotted his car in the driveway, and so went up on the porch to ring the doorbell after he cut through the lawn.

Mr Way answered the door in a pair of Star Wars pajama pants and a black tee. Frank blinked in slight shock, this not being what he expected, and recovered quickly, ducking under Mr Way’s arm, which wasn’t as hard as Frank wished it was. Frank wasn’t self conscious about his height often, but sometimes he was painfully reminded of it in comparison to Mr Way, who, granted, wasn’t that tall himself, but graceful. He was like a gazelle. 

Frank waited awkwardly just in the doorway of Mr Way’s home, and looked around, taking his earbud out and pausing his music. It seemed homey enough. It smelled like Mr Way-coffee, and just a hint of cigarettes, but not enough to convince Frank he smoked in here or often. 

“Let me show you around the place,” Mr Way said, taking Frank’s smaller hand in his own.

Mr Way led him wound his house. It was smaller than Franks, and darker, but it had its own charm. Mr Way had an art studio, and there was mixed art media supplies. He also had an office, and this was filled with a lot of records and Star Wars things, among other collectables, and was the brightest room in the house. Mr Way’s bedroom was a very light shade of grey. The bathroom had a tub/shower, and a toilet and sink and come cabinets. Usual bathroom stuff. Frank noticed a scale wedged between the bathroom vanity and the trash can, but he didn’t give it too much thought.

“Do you have any homework that needs to get done?” Mr Way asked after he had brought Frank into the dining area and sat him down at the table in there.

Frank thought about lying but said “Yeah, a bit, but not a lot, really.”

Silence ensued and Frank realized how precarious their relationship actually was. 

“Did you ever start on that mixtape for me yet?” Mr Way asked.

Frank shook his head, so Mr Way quickly changed the subject, offering him something to drink.

“Do you have apple juice?” Frank smiled, and Mr Way got up and pulled a whole jug out of his fridge, which he set on the counter below the cabinet he opened to pull two cups from. They were both blue, but one was very close to being grey. It was this one he kept for himself, and the brighter one he gave to Frank. They weren’t from the same set, but Frank felt like he preferred this when he noticed. 

Mr Way offered him over to the couch in the living room, which is the room Frank had entered when he came in. 

“To be honest I don’t really have a plan,” Mr Way said, and Frank solved that by scooting closer to him so that Mr Way could lean down to kiss him.

It wasn’t a long kiss, and they once again found themselves in the same situation, just more comfortable around each other this time around. 

“How’s the Outsiders?” Mr Way asked, trying to break the silence again. 

“Good, thanks.”

“Do any of them know you’re over here?”

“Charlie does, yeah.”

“Oh. What’d he say?”

“Use protection.”

“Oh.”

There was yet another awkward silence, which Mr Way ended up apologizing for. “Maybe we should put something on, you know?” he asked.

Frank nodded, asking whether he meant music or tv, and Mr Way was open to either, so together they sat on the couch, watching some movie Mr Way was in the middle of watching that he had given Frank a run-down of, only, the run-down wasn’t that clear.

“So wait, she ‘died’ but then didn’t die? She was just in that lake the whole time?”

“Yeah.”

“But wait, who was the guy with the red eyes?”

“Cyclops?”

“Cyclops? Are we watching  _ X-Men?!?! _ ”

“Yeah, didn’t I mention that?”

“No!”

“Oh. Sorry. We’re watching X-Men.”

Frank swatted the older man on the head.

“Kevin will be upset I saw it without him, but maybe I can see them all and go with him to see the new one coming out.”

“We should go see Deadpool.”

“Um, okay, if you want.”

“It comes out around Valentine’s Day. You could spend the weekend or something.”

Frank felt shy, but excited about the notion. 

“Okay, but that’s a way’s off. Let’s take it slowly for now.”

“You're the one who put your hand in my shirt,” Mr Way complained.

“And I’ll keep doing it if you keep ignoring my points.”

“In that case, I think I’ll just completely ignore you.”

Frank slipped his hand under Mr Way’s shirt again.

“If you want to take this slow, why are you advancing on me?”

“I didn’t mean slow like that.”

Mr Way chuckled, noticing that although Frank’s hand was in his shirt, it wasn’t doing much but laying flat on his stomach. It was more peaceful than sexual.

They finished watching X-Men, and Mr Way offered to give Frank a ride part of the way home, to which Frank agreed.

When Frank stepped out of the car, Mr Way watched his back as he walked away, the kiss that he had received from the younger man before his departure still lingering on his lips, reminiscent. 

  
  



	7. 7. Don't Threaten Me With a Scene, It's an Arms Race

Kevin’s room was like a shrine to everything he loved. Some kids had things in their room representing something they liked, but with Kevin, everything was themed. He had a Star Wars bed set, and a matching lamp. That was just the beginning.

Kevin also had another room besides his bedroom, where he kept his video games, comic books, rubix cubes, and other general nerdy things. When Frank and his friends came over, Kevin lead them up to the familiar game room, where they were able to set up enough controllers to play Mario Smash Brothers for all of them. Frank picked Dark Link, his normal character, because that was who he felt the most connected to. 

Clyde wasn’t the best at many video games, and he was often times the first one out. Most of the time Kevin won, but sometimes one of the other guys were able to beat him. One time, a few years ago, Clyde had beaten them all at a duel in the game, and they threw a celebration. When it had become evident that Clyde had beaten all the other guys fair and square, Kevin had purposefully thrown the fight so he would win, but no one ever had the heart to tell him.

When they had played a suitable amount of rounds, the guys one by one left to head home before dark. Finally, just Clyde, Kevin, and Frank were left, and they moved to Kevin’s room.

Kevin started laying out an outfit for the next day, pulling things on whim from his extremely meticulous, color-coordinated closet. On school days, Kevin liked to try and dress well, feeling that school was a place where one should look respectable, but on the weekends and over the summer his casual clothing consisted of many obscure fandom shirts and jeans or shorts.

Kevin sat down on his Star Wars bed, and Clyde took a seat on the Spiderman folding chair Kevin had in his room for such occasions, and Frank pulled out the Batman one that Kevin owned. 

“Spiderman is cool and all, but being bitten by a radioactive spider does  _ not  _ seem worth it.” Clyde shuddered at his inner thoughts.

“Well, duh, Batman is the ultimate hero,” Frank countered.

“Batman doesn’t have any powers,” Clyde said. “Superman is way better.”

“Not if Batman has Krypton,” Frank said, rolling his eyes. Of course Batman would be carrying Kryptonite if he was expecting to go up against Superman.

“But if he didn’t, Superman would totally win.”

“Maybe in terms of power, yeah, but-”

“No ‘but’s, man!”

Frank huffed and turned to Kevin to try and settle the debate.

“Classic Batman vs Superman? I think you’ve hit the most basic points on the head. Of course, there are a number of factors, like where the rest of the Justice League is, where the fight is taking place, how much time Batman would have had to set up anything-”

At this point Frank and Clyde looked at each other, knowing that Kevin could talk for an indeterminable length about these things.

“Well, that’s great, Kevin, but I think I’m late for dinner,” Clyde said, thinking that Willie and Corey could have come up with a smoother exit, but he went with it, leaving Frank to say, “Oh yeah! I think that Mr Way invited me over for dinner tonight!” and left before Kevin could say anything about it.

Clyde was waiting for him outside, and they started walking together.

“What’s for dinner at your place, anyway?”

“Chicken tacos. You?”

“I think spaghetti again.” Frank’s mom had read a recipe wrong and made about ten servings of pasta, and there was only him and his parents. This was going to be the third night of pasta.

“Want to come over for dinner instead?” Clyde asked.

“Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

Frank walked beside Clyde all the way to his house, making sure to wipe his feet and take off his shoes right when he entered. Clyde’s parents were very nice, but very clean and proper people. 

“Mom, Dad, Frank is eating with us,” Clyde called.

Clyde’s dad came into the foyer from down the hall and wrapped an arm around both boys, steering them into the kitchen.

“Great! There’s plenty,” he said, and Frank blinked in the bright lights of the kitchen. Clyde’s house was very nice on the inside, and all the makings for tacos were laid out on the island counter. Clyde and Frank weren’t late, they were perfectly on time. Another reason that Clyde’s excuse seemed poor was because he was almost never late. 

Frank and Clyde grabbed plates and started down the line of the taco bar. 

When the boys were finished heaping piles of meat and toppings into their shells, they sat down at the dining table, where they were served drinks by Clyde’s mom.

The dinner talk turned to grades and college, and Frank tried his best to seem interested, as per usual, but Frank wasn’t interested in college, and he hadn’t told anyone but his friends. All of his friend’s parents expected them to go to college, but Frank didn’t want to. Charlie would go, of course, to play sports and party, and Clyde was super smart, why wouldn’t he? Willie wanted to be an engineer, and Corey wanted to be an actor or a model. Kevin wanted to design video games. All those things required an education beyond high school. Frank, however, wanted to be in a band. That was what he had wanted for a while now. He had meant to talk to Mr Way about it, but then things had happened, and, well, he hadn’t gotten around to it.

His grades were picking up from the first few weeks of school though. After the hell he had suffered the first few weeks, and rejection for the next few months, Frank was finally able to sit back and relax. Of course, all of that was constantly in the back of his mind, but his demons only came out to play when he was weak. 

Sitting at Clyde’s dinner table, he felt like he fit in. He didn’t want to face the world alone when all his friends went off to college, because deep down, he knew that they weren’t going to be together all the time. Someday, maybe, they would all meet up again, for old time’s sake, but in a year or two, they weren’t going to talk as much as they did now, and in three or four years, it would only be on holidays and their birthdays, and after that, who knew?

_ But I’m not alone _ , Frank thought.  _ I have Mr Way _ .

But did he? In a few months this could end. It had only been a few days since they had gotten back together, and they had only been together for a few days originally. And who knows how long Mr Way would want Frank? Frank wasn’t special, he was just...Frank.

However, for the time being, he was going to sit here at Clyde’s table with Clyde’s family, which was like an extension of his own, and he was going to enjoy the feeling of being an important part of a bigger relationship, because after this year, he didn’t know when he would feel like that again.


	8. 8. Feelin' This Brain Stew

Frank had a guitar in his room. It was a pretty sick guitar, and that was something all of his friends could agree on. They sometimes asked him to play it for them and sing. It was white, and it had the word “Pansy” on it in sparkly letters.

When Frank got home that Saturday night after eating at Clyde’s house to avoid more pasta, he messed around on it.

He had a few songs written out, and his friends had heard most of them. There was even a few they could sing along with. Those were some of the happiest moments of Frank’s life, when he played on his guitar and his friends sang along-sang along to songs  _ he  _ had written. 

He sat there and played his guitar, just mindless strumming and humming. 

Frank’s mom come into his room, knocking lightly before he invited her in.

“Hi, Frank, how are you doing?” She asked him, coming to sit next to him on his bed. He put his guitar down, taking off the strap and setting it down next to him on his pillow.

“I’m good, mom.”

“How was dinner? Where did you eat?”

“At Clyde’s and it was good.”

“Glad to hear. How’s school going?”

“Good. My grades are improving.”

“Great! I’m proud of you, Frank!” She put her hand on her knee and leaned in a bit at Frank, genuinely proud of her only son. 

“How’s work?” Frank’s mom could never really say much about her assignments sometimes, but she often say how it was coming along if asked.

She tucked a piece of her hair falling out of her perfectly-messy mom ponytail behind her ear. “It’s taking a bit longer than expected, but the time frame has been adjusted to compensate.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” 

Frank’s mom nodded, and feeling like she had taken up enough of her son’s time, and got up off his bed and exited his room with a farewell.

Frank went back to playing one of his favorite songs he had written on his guitar, humming some of the lyrics, and singing them a bit too.

He figured he should talk to Mr Way about his plan for trying to get into a band after high school with Mr Way the next time he saw him outside of school. He didn’t have a job or anyone to start a band with, and Mr Way  _ was _ his guidance counselor, so that did fall in his job description. 

When Frank became bored of his mindless strumming he put his guitar away. He wanted to visit Mr Way again, but he had seen him the day before. Maybe next weekend. Frank needed a way to get in contact with Mr Way, so he could schedule when to hang out.

With that matter still fresh on his mind, he turned off his bedside lamp, which was not part of any fandom and just a normal lamp, and laid in his bed, shimming under the covers and pulling them up to his chin, rolling over and sleeping.


	9. 9. Up In the Air With Me

“You want my phone number? I mean, I suppose that’s useful,” Mr Way said, running a hand through his bright red locks and wiping his nose a bit as he paced the small room. 

“Yeah, I mean, what if I want to talk to you, or I want to see if I can come over, or I tell you you can come over?” Frank asked from the couch. He has his legs crossed and his hands holding his feet. 

Mr Way glanced over at him as he paused in his pacing. He couldn’t keep the look of strong adoration out of his eyes as he did so. Frank was just too cute, and no matter how hard Mr Way tried to compose himself, he couldn’t.

“Okay, pass your phone over.”

Mr Way put Frank into his phone first, then put himself into Frank’s phone.

“How did you guess my password?” Frank asked incredulously as Mr Way tossed his phone back at him and Frank caught it.

“I looked up the guitarist of Panic! at the Fall Out Disco’s birthday,” Mr Way said while Frank was occupied with tracing the skull on his phone case, but at the explanation, Frank looked up at the older man with equal adoration he had just received. Frank never imagined anyone could learn so much about him in such a short time. Frank and his friends had had years to learn about each other, but in just a few short weeks, Mr Way had learned so much about Frank.

“Okay, Frank, it’s getting late, you have to get back to class.”

Frank sighed but agreed to go back to class, giving Mr Way a hug and walking back to class in high spirits.

 

*****

 

Charlie had practice after school so Frank took the bus home by himself, using the opportunity to text Mr Way. The conversation started off slow and slightly formal, but as with any good friends, the conversation turned casual, and by the time Frank got home, he felt as comfortable talking to Mr Way as he did with any of his friends.

Surprisingly, Frank’s mom greeted him in the doorway.

“Frank! How was your day at school?”

Frank told her it went well and told her a funny story about Clyde and his peas at lunch. His mom laughed and told Frank that Frank’s father and her were going out to dinner, and Frank would have the house to himself for the evening.

“Just try not to make too much of a mess if the boys come over, okay?”

“Okay, mom,” Frank agreed, but he wasn’t thinking of inviting his friends over, but Mr Way instead.

In the time his mom spent waiting for his dad to come home so they could leave, Frank did his homework and cleaned his room, and then finally worked up the courage to ask Mr Way over.

While Frank waited for a reply he sat by his window, looking out at the trees blowing in the evening wind. He spotted Jeremy running in uneven circles on his lawn. Frank shook his head.  _ What a weird kid _ .

Frank turned away from the window and Jeremy when he heard his phone go off on his nightstand. Frank read the message and grinned widely and flopping on his bed, actually giggling in realizing in a few hours Mr Way would be  _ here  _ with  _ him _ .

Frank ran downstairs and tried to get some things in order in his already-organized, for the most part, house, without his mom noticing. However, she did notice, and asked if the boys were coming over.

“Just a few,” he said, and ran back upstairs to avoid any questions.

Frank passed the time by strumming his guitar and pulling out his laptop to mindlessly indulge in repetitive games such as Tetris and the Snake Game. Finally, Frank’s dad came home, and both his parents came to wish him well with his friends and say goodbye. Frank lamented not seeing his dad as often as he would like, but was glad his parents would have fun going out to dinner and Frank would have the house to himself so he could invite Mr Way over, which he had actually had the courage to do. Shortly after that while Frank was locked in an extreme battle of Pong, he heard a car pull in his driveway and before he could make it all the way down the stairs, he heard the doorbell ring.

The night was chilly, and when Frank opened his front door, Mr Way was glancing down at his foot stretched out and tracing shapes while his breath came out in cloud wisps and he had a scarf wrapped around his neck. Although the weather was cold, Frank felt like they didn’t count for 100% of the goosebumps he was getting looking at his lover.

“Hi,” Frank said, and though there was no way that Mr Way hadn’t noticed he opened the door, he looked up in surprise. 

“Hello. Um, it’s kind of chilly out. May I come in?”

Frank giggled again. “I was just going to ask if you would. Come on in.”

Frank moved out of the way and Mr Way moved in the nice-looking house and closed the door behind him. He followed Frank into the kitchen and commented on the cute green color of the bit of wall under the cabinets and above the counter.

“Thanks,” Frank said.

“It’s a cute place.”

“Well, so is your home.”

“Okay, touche.”

Frank showed Mr Way around his house, finally leading him upstairs to his room.

Frank didn’t know what to do, so he sat on his bed.

Mr Way spotted the guitar case lying on the floor next to Frank’s nightstand. He gestured to it.

“You play?”

“Yeah.”

Mr Way nodded. “Are you any good?” he asked simply.

Frank would have been taken back by most people asking something like that, but for some reason, it seemed like a natural question, and Frank didn’t get offended.

“I am,” he answered instead, because he knew he was good. He might not have been good enough to make it big-time, yet, but he was pretty good for someone who had just turned into a legal adult.

“Can I hear?” Mr Way asked, and Frank nodded and picked up his guitar case, pulling it out with loving care and placing it on his lap while he put the strap on, and then assumed the best position he could while sitting on his bed.

“If we wait, it might be too late, we’ll make everybody cry, we wouldn’t even have to try“ Frank started to sing while he strummed. Mr Way watched him mutely. Towards the end of the song, while Frank was singing “So let’s laugh, let’s laugh, let’s learn to laugh at ourselves again,” Mr Way leaned over slowly, leaning over Frank’s guitar, and when Frank had finished the song, stumbling a little on the words and chords from being in such close proximity with someone that made his heart thud heavily in his chest, Mr Way kissed him deeply, even going so far as to remove Frank’s white guitar with the word “Pansy” written in those sparkly letters over the front and push him back onto his pillows, crawling over him.

Frank flattened himself out underneath his older boyfriend and felt him run a hand up Frank’s legs, clad in his usual black skinny jeans, and move to the crotch of his pants. Mr Way started palming Frank there, and it felt really great for Frank to have someone else do that to him for a change, and Frank started rising up and trying to meet Mr Way’s hand. Mr Way giggled a little bit, but it was in a deeper octave than the man normally had. Mr Way normally had what could almost be called a nasally voice, but the accent was attractive to Frank, and Frank understood why Mr Way had been a singer.

Frank had his eyes closed and his mouth was open a crack, and Mr Way sure seemed to know what he was doing, even slipping his hand down Frank’s pants. Frank opened his eyes a smidge but in that short window of time he saw Mr Way realize what he was doing and who he was dealing with, in terms of he had first met his boyfriend on the floor of the boys bathroom after being raped and he started to slide his hand out before Frank could get any harder. Frank grabbed his wrist before it hed fully left the interior of his black skinny jeans and, opening his eyes fully, told him to wait.

“I can take it. This, I can take.”

Mr Way nodded, and continued working on Frank through the fabric of his boxers, never pushing farther than that, until Frank came with an “ooh!” that had been quieter than his moans leading up to it.

Mr Way left the room for Frank to change, and the air between them was rather good, all things considered.

“Your treatment to helping me overcome the traumatic experience I went through seems to be working,” Frank said, smiling naughtily and placing himself on Mr Way’s lap.

“I’m glad. That is, after all, what a guidance counselor is for.”

Frank got up to go to the bathroom shortly after that, which Mr Way used as an opportunity to glance around Frank’s bedroom, spotting a copy of one of his band’s CDs lying on the desk.

“You little shit,” Mr Way said, holding it up when Frank came back in.

“You said it was okay to check out your band! So I did and I liked you guys!”

“Well, I’m glad,” Mr Way said warmly, and put the CD in Frank’s player, and they spent what time they had together laying on Frank’s bed talking quietly, and just being really close friends, spirits, and honestly, soulmates.


	10. 10. Wake Me Up After Midnight

Time passed and Frank and his friends drew closer to senior year, which presented its own set of problems.

First of all, there were all the tests that had to be taken, and the anxious waiting to hear back from all the colleges that had been applied to. Frank did apply to some schools, but he still wasn’t planning on going.

Another matter was Frank’s classmates realizing it was drawing close to the end of the school year, and after that last summer, they might not see each other again for a very long time.

Frank had no idea what he was going to do about seeing Mr Way. He hadn’t actually approached Mr Way about not wanting to go to college and joining a band yet. However, as the school guidance counselor, Mr Way had talk to all the kids before they went off the college or didn’t about their life plans. The day of Frank’s meeting with him was drawing ominously closer.

Also, it was getting harder and harder to hide Frank and Mr Way’s relationship, and one day Frank was met with that realization when the last person Frank had ever thought about put the pieces back together.

It was an April afternoon and Frank was out raking leaves on his front lawn because he was on vacation when Jeremy came outside. Frank looked up and over at Jeremy, not expecting him to engage in a conversation with Frank, but he did.

“I see that man come to your house a lot. When your parents aren’t there. I see a lot. The man with the red hair. I see everything.”

Frank doubted he saw  _ everything _ , but it didn’t change Frank being creeped out by him.

“Yeah. Your point?”

“Your parents don’t know about him.”

“Yeah, so? What’s it to you?” Frank demanded.

“Nothing. It’s absolutely nothing to me.”

“Then why did you bring it up?”

But Jeremy didn’t answer, he simply backed up, finally turning around and entering the woods behind his house.

“What in the actual fuck was that?” Frank asked himself quietly, but went on raking his lawn.

*-*-*-*-*

The week he got back to school, Frank had his meeting with Mr Way.

When Frank entered after being invited in at his knock, Mr Way said “It’s finally nice to see a friendly face. Not too many of your friends have last names close to the letter ‘I’, and quite frankly, they are some of the only decent kids this school has,” Mr Way admitted.

Frank considered mentioning that Pete was nice, but him and Mr Way were on good terms without bringing up Pete’s name, and it would be really great if Mr Way could reach that conclusion on his own.

“So Frank, in all the time we’ve spent together, I’ve never asked what you wanted to do with your life. Now my job mandates that I do so.” The two sentences dripped with sass.

“Yeah, about that-”

“So what  _ do  _ you want to do next year?” Mr Way cut him off like he hadn’t even heard Frank, though he must have.

Frank felt himself get defiant for some reason and sat up straighter on his couch- that’s right- it was Frank’s couch nowadays. 

“I want to be in a band.”

This was evidently not the answer Mr Way had expected and his eyes grew a bit wider.

“Yeah, but you want to go to college though, right?” he asked, picking up his apple juice and taking a sip to help his suddenly-dry throat.

“Not especially. In fact, I mean not to,” he said, borrowing a line from the first Lord of the Rings. 

Mr Way choked and spluttered on his apple juice.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said and said exactly what I mean.” Now Frank was just indulging in word play, cranking up his own sass.

“You don’t want to go to college?”

“No.”

“But you want to play in a band.”

“Correct.”

“But Frankie-”

Frank gripped the arm of the couch.

“You played in a band after high school, didn’t you?” Frank asked in a rhetorical manner.

“Yes, of course I did, but I also went to college!”

Frank shrugged. “Maybe someday I’ll be possessed with the desire to do so as well. However, for now, I don’t, and if I don’t what’s the point?”

“You could at least give it a try. Maybe if you try it, you’ll find you like it.”

“But what’s the point, Gerard?” Frank asked, using his boyfriend’s first name for only the fourth time in his life. “If I don’t want to be there, I won’t apply myself. Why are you pushing me so hard? And don’t say because it’s your job, that’s bullshit.”

Mr Way looked hurt at this, and part of Frank regretted those last words.

“I was going to say because I don’t care to see your life thrown away, but apparently that doesn’t matter to you. Fine, Frank, do whatever you want. I can’t make up your mind.”

And with that, Mr Way dismissed Frank, leaving him feeling worse than he already did.


	11. 11. Lost It All, It Never Ends

Frank and Mr Way weren’t in the best place that they had been. Mr Way had been withdrawn and Frank didn’t know why, until one day Mr Way was able to muster the courage to call Frank down to his office.

“Frank, take a seat. We need to talk.”

Frank did so, and saw Mr Way had many mixed emotions on your face.

“What is it, Gerard?” Frank asked.

Mr Way looked down at his desk, stirring his cold coffee with a spoon just to be doing something.

“The band is getting back together.”

Frank brightened up. “Well, Mr Way, that’s great!”

Mr Way nodded and said quietly, “That means we’re going on tour this summer.”

Frank nodded, “Okay, and?”

Mr Way let a tear spill.

“Frank, if I’m going to go back on tour, I’m not going to see you. In fact, it will be really hard to continue this. We might have to take a break, if you would even want me still after I came back. Or I just stay.”

Frank rushed over to Mr Way’s desk.

“No, no, Gerard, go, be with your band. I’ll still be here when you come home. In the future, I want to be in a band on tour anyway someday. We can make it. No, Gerard, baby, don’t cry,” Frank tried desperately to wipe the tears away from the older man’s face over the desk. 

“I tried so hard to get the courage to tell you,” Mr Way cried. “It was eating me up on the inside.”

Frank moved around Mr Way’s table and crawled on his lap in his desk chair, holding him close to his smaller chest and letting Mr Way cry there, wrapping his arms around Frank. Frank ran his hand through Gerard’s hair and let him get all his worries out.

When Mr Way was able to compose himself once more, he hugged Frank tightly and released him.

“You need to get back to class, sir,” he told Frank. Frank glanced at the clock.

“It’s five minutes to the end of school,” Frank said. “I can stay here.”

Mr Way wasn’t about to argue.


	12. 12. But It's Better If You Hum Hallelujah

How do you spend the last few days with someone, knowing they’ll be gone for a very long time soon, and not knowing if you’ll still love them when they return, because a lot can happen in a summer, and even the smallest thing can change a person forevermore? This is what it looked like Frank and Mr Way’s situation was to be, and one could only hope that their love held through.

Frank was sitting in class drawing in his notebook when the phone to the classroom rang. Frank’s teacher looked at him. Hell, the whole class looked at him. They all knew it was Mr Way calling to take Frank out of class for more “therapy” for whatever trauma he had faced earlier in the year. They also all knew it was a pile of bullcrap, and that there was something more to it. But no one said anything. No one cared.

Frank’s footsteps echoed down the empty hall, the darkness growing bigger with every step he took. He remembered the time he bumped into Clyde on the way to see Mr Way once. However, this time, he was painfully alone.

It was his last day of high school day, what was called “make-up day”. Most kids hadn’t bothered to show up, but Frank and his friends did.

Mr Way was leaving for tour in a few days, and Frank was staying home, no plans for college and no idea how to start a band or get into one. He only had the money he had saved up over the school year, a few hundred dollars, and he was going to need to get a job soon.

The thought of just living an ordinary, mundane life brought Frank close to tears, but he kept pushing into the darkness of the hall until he reached Mr Way’s door. There he stood and he let the tears that he had held in for weeks after Mr Way’s news of going on tour fall. He didn’t want Mr Way to leave. Frank was going to miss him. Frank didn’t know if he could hold on that long. Frank would hold onto their relationship until it broke him. He was willing to let it break him, yes, but he might not have a choice in the matter.

Frank knocked on the door, and Mr Way let him in.

Mr Way held him tight and let his own tears fall, until they were a man, and a boy who could barely be considered a man hugging in a colorful, homey office lit by school lights and christmas lights. There was no sunlight, however, in the dim little office. There were no windows. There was nothing to show there was a world outside that little white-walled brick office. The same color as the white, windowless bathroom that Mr Way had found Frank crying in a month ago. Frank could see him clearly in his mind. Black boots and jacket, paint-covered shirt, and of course, the bright red hair. 

Frank hugged Mr Way tighter and cried harder while Mr Way did the same. 

The phone rang. Mr Way wiped his nose on the back of his hand and went to answer it.

“Ray?” Mr Way asked groggily, voice thick.

Both waited without a sound while Ray said whatever he shad to say to Mr Way.

“R-Ray, what are you saying?” Mr Way asked, more tears falling down his face.

“Ray, are you sure?” Mr Way had the hint of a smile on his face.

“Okay, Ray, alright.” Mr Way hung up the phone, covered his mouth with one of his thin, artistic hands and slumped against his wall crying,

“Gerard, Gerard what it is?” Frank asked, rushing over.

Mr Way looked up at Frank with eyes sparkling with tears, and in that moment he seemed younger than ever to Frank, almost Frank’s own age. 

“They said okay.”

“Who said okay? To what?”

Mr Way smiled.

“Frank, if you want to be in the band, you can be.”

“W-what band? My C-Chemical Romance?” Frank spluttered.

“Yes, Frank. You can join the band and come on tour with me, with us.”

Frank sat down next to Mr Way, leaning on his shoulder and crying with him.

*-*-*-*-*

The final bell that Frank would ever hear to end class rang, and he hugged Mr Way tightly and walked out of the office he would probably never see again. Looking at the couch, he remembered the times he had curled up there, crying after the hardest thing in his life had happened, and how the man whose room it belonged to had helped him. They had kissed for the very first time on that couch.

The red fridge contained apple juice as well as soda, because on Twitter, Mr Way had learned that was the most popular juice flavor.

The walls were covered in unpublished art work.

Frank met his friends in the hall and walked out of the building with them.

“I guess this is goodbye, then isn’t it?” Kevin asked.

“Goodbye?” Charlie asked. 

“Very funny, asshole,” Corey said in his faint British accent. 

“I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Willie confirmed, and he and Corey made off their separate ways, and then Clyde, and then Kevin, until Pete came to say goodbye, giving Frank a hug and a kiss and leaving for good, and it was just Charlie and Frank.

“Charlie,” Frank said, grabbing his friend’s arm and spinning him around a bit.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell the other guys yet, but I’m going on tour with Mr Way and his band.”

“You mean you won’t be here?” Charlie asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

“No, not in a few weeks.”

“Will you be here to see us off before college, Frank,” Charlie demanded to know, worrying that their friendship would fall apart so soon.

“Of course, Charlie,” Frank assured him. “I wouldn’t go if not.”

“Well, I guess that just means we’ll have to go see you, right?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, man,” Frank said excitedly. “They’ll even let me play some of my own songs, too!”

Charlie beamed at that, and with arms around each other’s shoulders, they boarded the bus together that took them home.

*-*-*-*-*

Frank’s parents weren’t the happiest about not knowing this band, but were happy that Frank’s dreams were coming true, and decided he was old enough to make his own decisions without their rule. 

It was real. Frank was going to go on tour and play with My Chemical Romance.


	13. 13. Bonus Track: The Only Difference Between Centuries and Immortals is Time to Dance

Frank looked up at the tour bus doors, his bag slung over his shoulder, as a man with curly hair walked down the steps.

“Hey, I’m Ray, the other guitarists, and this is Mikey on the bass guitar,” he gestured behind him. “You must be Frank.”

Frank shook hands with Ray.

“So you play guitar? I’ve heard some of your work, and I have to say your a natural. You can really go places in the future, kid, but for now, let’s see what we can do about putting you in our songs.” Ray turned around and climbed back on the bus where Mikey was waiting.

Mr Way put his hands on Frank’s shoulders and steered him up the steps. 

“Ready?” he asked.

Frank nodded and took a step forward.

“Wait, I almost forgot!”He said, and put his bag down, pulling something out of the side pocket and handing it to Mr Way.

Mr Way took the case in his hand and saw a CD inside, labeled “Mr Way’s Mixtape, From Frank”.

Mr Way put his arms around his boyfriend from behind.

“I love you, Frank.”

“I love you too, Gerard.”

 


End file.
